In the third quarter, both sides still focused on defense, and the scene was not very good.
The Pistons' five tigers spared no effort in their half-court defense, biting the Suns like five mad dogs and launching ferocious double-teams again and again.
As for the Suns, it was similar. They invested a lot of energy in defense, always playing a two-two-one zone defense, and always maintained a full-court press with two people.
Regardless of the defensive effect of the full-court press, after Billups and Prince finished the third quarter, they could no longer straighten their backs. Even the masked man who could not run to death was still panting, so it can be seen that it still had some effect.
, at least it achieved the purpose of consuming the opponent's physical energy.
After the third quarter, 60:70, the Suns led by 10 points.
Zhang Lijia smiled and said: "The Pistons only scored 16 points in the third quarter, and the Suns scored 24 points. Although the Pistons destroyed many of the Suns' offense through defense, they still couldn't defend against the Iron Army."
Su Qun said: "They played a zone defense and did not double-team Old K in advance. As long as Old K can get the ball, the offense will be stable.
Old K scored 24 points in the first half and 14 points in the third quarter. He has scored 38 points, accounting for 54% of the team's scores.
I made 15 of 22 shots, a field goal percentage of 68%, and 8 of 10 free throws, a field goal percentage of 80%. Just keep playing like this, play steadily, this efficiency and shots will be enough to beat the Pistons."
Zhang Lili said: "I'm afraid the Tiejun's offensive efficiency will be higher in the last quarter, and the physical fitness of the Pistons' five tigers is no longer good. Ben only rested for two minutes in the first three quarters, and the trolls only rested for 4 minutes. The other three tigers also had similar rotation times.
It's not enough. Looking at it in the final quarter, they have no chance to rotate. Larry Brown doesn't dare to make substitutions and will definitely continue to control the main force."
Su Qun said with a smile: "Not to mention D'Antoni's other abilities, he is good at employing people. Zhu Fangyu, Josh Howard, and Howard Ellis played too much time as substitutes. They all played for more than 20 minutes. This is a total
The finals! Look at the young players of the Pistons, they are treated completely differently.
The three of them, Zhu Fangyu, came on the court and executed a full-court press, using the physical strength of their several substitutes to consume the physical strength of the opponent's main players."
On the visiting team's bench, as soon as the five Pistons sat down, they began to wipe away sweat and drink water to replenish energy, and they gasped one after another.
Larry Brown stood in front with a very serious expression, staring at the five Pistons with stern eyes.
He was very annoyed today. He arranged a two-one-two zone defense. There was no full-court press or half-court press. But he didn't expect a team like the Suns to have such a poor defense. Yes, in his opinion, the Suns'
The defense was so poor. He really didn't expect the Suns to dare to press the entire court for three quarters.
This defensive tactic, coupled with the Suns' abundant rotations, caused a huge drain on his Pistons' top five.
Putting aside some thoughts in his mind, he said in a stern tone: "Listen up, I don't have time to give you a rest in the final quarter. You must persevere. I need you to play stronger defense in the most critical stage. Now is
It’s time to fight hard! We must win an away game to take control of the series.”
No one in the Pistons Five paid attention to Larry Brown, they were all panting.
Not only did they have to keep an eye on the Suns on the defensive end, but they were also forced hard by the Suns on the offensive end, with no chance to breathe on the court.
Especially on the outside lines, even the masked man who was the best at running felt that his physical strength was at the limit, and his calves were twitching.
On the bench of the home team, D'Antoni discussed with several assistant coaches Xiao Fan and decided to focus on stability.
In other words, continue to maintain the original tactics, let two people press the whole court, continue to squeeze the Pistons' physical fitness, so that they have no more energy to spend on the defensive end, so that the Suns can get more space on the offensive end.
.
Now the team leads by 10 points and has the advantage. D'Antoni also has the initiative when arranging tactics.
"Sean, Steve, you are the fastest, and you play pressing tactics in the backcourt. It is still the original requirement, mainly to consume the opponent's physical energy." D'Antoni said.
"Okay." The two replied immediately.
"Old K, I leave the defense of the penalty area to you. You have the heaviest task, and you still have to do the offense."
"Don't worry."
"Amazing Stoudemire, if Old K pulls up to the high post, you must pay attention to cutting inside in time. On the defensive end, you must work hard to fill the gap left by Old K in time."
"ok."
"Joe, you attract the defense on the wing three-point line and wait for the opportunity."
"Understood."
The three substitutes have just worked hard for a quarter, and now it is their turn to work hard for the main players.
At the beginning of the final quarter, the Suns attacked.
The Pistons have been playing a two-one-two zone defense today and have little defensive power in the backcourt. The Suns have been very successful in the backcourt.
Larry Brown just wanted to change his defensive tactics and increase the pressure in the backcourt. He even thought about playing a two-two-one zone defense that can take into account both the front and backcourt like the Suns, but he didn't dare.
Because the physical fitness of the Pistons' five tigers is no longer good, they cannot play a full-court press tactic and can only continue to play a 2-1-2 zone defense tactic.
Nash advanced to the frontcourt unhurriedly, Billups blocked in front of him and began to press the defense.
"Hey, this is a half-court press, and the Pistons changed their defensive tactics?" Su Qun said in surprise.
"Probably." Zhang Lili replied while staring at the screen.
Nash immediately transferred quickly, and with his faster speed and flexible pace, he temporarily got rid of Billups' entanglement. At this time, he saw Old K standing in the low post on the left wing, and he quickly passed the ball in.
When the ball was flying in the sky, the Pistons' zone defense formation began to operate. Prince in the middle quickly turned down, dived into the low post, and formed a double-team on Lao Wang with Ben.
Nash's pass took into account the opponent's double-teaming factors to avoid being intercepted by Prince. He was a little outside. Wang took half a step outside and successfully caught the basketball. In the next moment, Prince's double-team came to him.
From the outside, when Prince double-teamed the low post, leaving a gap between the top of the key and the basket, Marion, who had no one around to defend him, immediately made a frontal cut.
As soon as the double team arrived, Lao Wang immediately dribbled back and turned to face the basket while avoiding the two defenders. He immediately saw Marion cutting in from the front. At this time, the ball was pulled up and he grabbed it with one hand.
, and then suddenly raised it upward to make a hooking motion.
The fake action was so realistic that Ben and Prince jumped up to block the shot at the same time.
But as soon as he raised it, he closed it and pushed the ball to the floor. With a bang, the basketball bounced off the ground and bounced from the feet of Ben and Prince into the paint area.
Marion rushed down from the free throw line, caught the ball, and then exploded.
"Bang!"
The next moment, an extremely explosive tomahawk slam detonated the American West Arena.
Marion, who scored a goal, did not return to defense, but defended on the spot and entangled Billups.
Nash also rushed over to interfere with Prince. His defensive ability was weak, but his purpose was just to consume the opponent's physical energy. He actually defended in a decent manner and was very active. Although he was easily left behind, he immediately took advantage of his absolute strength.
He caught up quickly.
Hamilton also responded in the backcourt, and the three of them worked together to push the ball through the frontcourt relatively smoothly.
Lao Wang stood one step below the free throw line. When three seconds were about to expire, he moved to a high position and then entered the paint area again. It seemed that he didn't care about the goalkeeper at all, but half of his attention was still on the goalkeeper.
On Ben's body, prevent bases being stolen by Big Ben.
At this time, Billups broke through with the ball from the right wing, and the Suns' zone defense formation also moved to the right. Lao Wang immediately moved a step to the right, but at this moment, the former suddenly jumped to pass, threw with both hands, and passed the ball.
Passed straight to the basket.
"squeak!"
The moment Billups took off, Wang quickly turned around, and with the sharp friction of his sneakers, he rushed toward the basket.
If Billups is shooting a jump shot, he can go back and grab the rebound. If he is passing the ball to Ben, he can go back to defend the basket. No matter what it is, his defensive choice is absolutely correct.
"Crack!"
Ben, who cut toward the basket from the low post on the left wing, saw the ball coming, jumped up quickly, and caught the ball with both hands.
When he caught the ball, he had already seen Old K rushing back. If he made a layup after landing, it would be too late. Old K would definitely give him a shot, so he played an alley-oop.
But his muscles are too developed, and his coordination and flexibility are not good. If he wants to dunk, he can't do it, so he resorts to a layup. After catching the ball, he throws the ball to the basket, and then he immediately falls like a weight.
Come down.
"Bang!"
Unfortunately, the ball missed, and the basketball hit the basket and deflected outside the basket.
He quickly took off a second time and tried to make a tip-in, but he had no chance.
"Crack!"
Lao Wang put his hands together and grabbed the ball before Ben.
"squeak!"
"squeak!"
"squeak!"
"squeak!"
At this time, Nash and the other four people had all turned around and got off quickly.
The Pistons' defensive defense could no longer keep up with the Suns' fast break rhythm.
"Whoosh!"
Lao Wang passed the ball directly to Nash. Nash was really not interested in scoring. He was only interested in assisting. He was two steps behind Prince and did not make a layup. Instead, he passed the ball back to Marion.
"Bang!"
Marion flew up and dunked, slamming into the Pistons' basket.
Lao Wang, who did not participate in the fast break under the basket, complained to the media box behind the baseline: "This guy Steve has saved me a lot of triple-doubles. He is the big brush of our Suns team. He has been here for two years.
Won two assists titles.”
"Haha..." The media gallery burst into laughter.
Larry Brown really hoped to win an away game and tried his best to control the main team, but in the end he was disappointed. This G2 game ended with the Suns' victory.
At 78:96, the Suns won by 18 points, won two consecutive home games, and took the initiative in the series. There will be three away games to play next.
In the last quarter, Lao Wang did not strengthen his personal offense as Zhang Lili said, but strengthened the defense of the penalty area. At the same time, he frequently launched fast breaks during the transition between offense and defense. He scored 6 points and 6 rebounds in a single quarter, and sent out 3 blocks and
1 steal, 2 assists and 4 indirect assists.
In 48 minutes, he scored a total of 44 points, 22 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals, 10 blocks, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls.
When he was off the field, he patted the exhausted Shuang Hualishi on the head and comforted him: "Boys, just admit defeat. You are still young and the future is yours. Why should you argue with an old guy like me? You are just the morning.
..."
"Come on, Old K, don't tell us about the sun at two or three o'clock in the morning. Let's give this chicken soup to others." Rashid Wallace said in a dumbfounded voice.
Big Ben nodded in agreement. They had heard this many times. Anyone who had been around Old K. Who didn’t know the potential meaning of this sentence?
"Okay, go to Detroit tomorrow and prepare some front row tickets for me. I have friends who want to watch the game."
Lao Wang knew that he couldn't fool these two boys, so he didn't bother to say any more, left a word and turned around to leave.
"Old K, how many do you want?" Ben shouted from behind.
"Your home tickets are worthless, prepare ten for me."
…
"Look, ESPN's winning chances have changed again. We are 90% and the Pistons are 10%."
"Old K, the Pistons still have 10%. It seems like ESPN hasn't given up yet."
"The revolution has not yet succeeded, comrades must work harder!"
Lao Wang encouraged him and then got into the bathroom to take a shower.
The next morning, the Suns flew east to Detroit.
At three o'clock in the afternoon, Lao Wang was resting in the hotel when he suddenly received a call from his second sister, saying that Fei Ge had entered the delivery room.
Although this was the third child, he was still a little worried without her around. After hanging up the phone, he couldn't rest quietly and walked around the room.
Twenty minutes later, the second sister called again.
"Give birth? So soon? Mother and child are safe." Okay, second sister, please help me take care of Brother Fei. I will be back in a few days.
.”
After waiting for a while, he called Fei Ge and chatted for a few words. Fei Ge was still a little tired and hung up the phone.
In the evening, Mr. Shuanghua came over to treat him to dinner and brought the tickets with him.
During the meal, we talked about business, and the Wallace brothers were very interested because they had followed Lao Wang in the Sino-US trade business over the years. They were small suppliers like Pippen, and they could make more or less money every year.
some money.
Later, Lao Wang gave the tickets to Cheng Long and several other Hollywood friends, as well as Dameng, Buckley, Lei Gong and others.
On the 5th, the g3 battle begins.
For the Pistons, the G3 game is a game that cannot be lost. If they lose again, the Suns will get the match point. There is a high probability that they will lose the finals series in one wave and be swept. It seems possible.
After two days and two nights of rest, the Pistons' five tigers seemed to be recharged. Under the roar of Larry Brown and the crazy shouts of the home fans, they launched a desperate counterattack against the Suns.
The home atmosphere at the Palace of Auburn Hills is very scary. Pistons fans who have experienced the Bad Boys era use all means to suppress the visiting team, from swearing to throwing debris. The momentum of nearly 20,000 people makes the Suns players breathless.
Later, the collective fell into a slump.
After the third quarter, 62:67, the scores of both sides were very low, with the Suns trailing by 5 points.
In order to activate his teammates' touch, Lao Wang distributed the ball a lot, but his teammates' touch was not activated, and instead he wasted a lot of ball rights.
Marion made 4 of 9 shots from the field, which looked okay, but he scored on three fast breaks and only made 1 of 5 shots in the positional battle.
Joe Johnson made 1 of 7 shots and scored only two points.
Even Nash, whose offense has always been good, under Prince's defense, made 4 of 11 shots in the three quarters, two of which were scored in fast breaks, and 2 of 9 shots in the positional battle.
The performance of others was similar. The two rookies Zhu Fangyu and Josh Howard were even worse. Their rookie attributes were hidden at home in the finals, but they were fully exposed in the away game. If they hadn't played some defensive counterattack fast breaks, their overall performance would have been poor.
Worse.
Lao Wang himself scored 28 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 5 blocks, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls in the three quarters, with a shooting percentage of 63%.
This is the lowest score in the finals he has played in. In the past, the Bulls had such a strong perimeter defense, and the score was much higher than this one.
But a very important reason is that he suppresses the offense himself. Now that he is older, he does not want his teammates around him to have poor statistics.
During the break, Zhang Lili analyzed: "After the black and white duo suffered injuries and illnesses, the Pistons suppressed Jordan's peak period in the late 1980s. The 1990s and 1990s were probably the years when Jordan was at his best physically.
At that time, he averaged 30 per game in those seasons.
So this team has a solid foundation. When the Bad Boys were aging, Jordan won two championships. Now that the Pistons' top five have reached the finals, Pistons fans must hope that the Pistons can reproduce the bad boys' performance.
brilliant.
Playing in this kind of away game, it is the finals, and it is also a crucial G3 game. If the Suns players do not have a very good psychological quality, it will be difficult to overcome the difficulties in the away game.
At the critical moment, Tie Jun, you should stand up and take over the power, and stop counting on your teammates. You have to know that you are the red flower, and your teammates are the green leaves."
"Yes, if you score a few goals, your teammates will be booed and panicked. They won't be able to concentrate, they will make mistakes when catching the ball, and they won't be able to make open shots. It's better to do it yourself."
Su Qun nodded and said: "The current Pistons are very different from the Bad Boys. They are both tough defensive teams, but the current Pistons' top five are pretty clean on defense and don't make many small moves."
Zhang Liyi nodded and said: "The Smiling Assassin once said publicly that the Pistons' opponents did not dare to rush into their penalty area because anyone who rushed in would be knocked down.
At that time, Michael Jordan was so tough that he just rushed when he got the ball. After a game, he was knocked down too many times, but he still rushed without fear at all.
At that time, he had not gained weight and his resistance ability had not improved. Later, he gained weight and his resistance ability improved.
Facing the Pistons, we had a greater advantage and eventually won two championships."
Su Qun said: "Shuanghua Laishi's actions were quite big today, but he didn't get called many times. His actions against Lao K many times must have met the foul standard, but he didn't get called out."
Zhang Lijia smiled and said: "The Pistons are at home, so that's understandable. And the league definitely doesn't want a sweep of the finals."
"Old K, stop passing the ball. In the final quarter, you attack by yourself, and the four of them will pass the ball to you." D'Antoni emphasized loudly on the Suns bench.
Lao Wang nodded. His teammates were really out of shape today. The atmosphere at the home court here at the Palace of Auburn Hills was too scary. The Suns booed every time they got the ball, which made people's hearts beat faster. If he hadn't been a veteran in the finals, he wouldn't have.
will be affected.
"Bang!"
At this time, someone in the audience threw a water glass, which fell to the ground and splashed all over them.
"Phoenix brats, don't even think about taking away a victory from here, don't even think about it!" Excited curses came out, and a large number of echoes from Zhou Kingdom suddenly sounded.
"Old K, I saw it. That guy was thrown by the fat man." Zhu Fangyu stood up and pointed at a fat black man in the audience and shouted.
"Leave him alone!"
Lao Wang motioned to Zhu Fangyu to sit down and warned: "You can fight with opponents like Big Ben, but don't go with the fans. It's not cost-effective to fight with them."
Colangelo Jr. had already called the stadium security personnel and asked them to control the scene. Several security guards quickly went up and pulled the big fat man out of the stadium.